AITA for making my step sister seem “uneducated”?

A Reddit user (21F) is frustrated with her step-sister (19F) for continually mispronouncing her Korean name, despite living together for years. The user speaks five languages, and while her step-sister refuses to learn, the rest of the family, including her step-mom, gets the name right.

At a family gathering, the step-sister made fun of the user for mispronouncing a word, leading to the user sarcastically pointing out her step-sister’s inability to pronounce a Korean name after all these years. This sparked anger in the family, with her step-mom especially furious. Now the user wonders if she was wrong to make her step-sister seem “uneducated” in public. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for making my step sister seem “uneducated”?’

Hi. So, i (f21) am currently staying with my family on my dad’s side. My step sister is 19. We never got along. I grew up in Korea and have a Korean name. I won’t say it here but it’s the same as a Blackpink member, not too hard to pronounce specially after 7 years of being my step sister but she always gets it wrong to a point that it seems on purpose.

The rest of the family gets it right, except for my little sister but she is 3 lol I speak 5 languages in total, my step brother speaks 3, my step sister never wanted to learn even thought she had the chance. Anyway i am TIRED of her never getting my name right. We were in a small reunion yesterday (all safe) and she kept misspronouncing it.

At one point i misspronounced a word and my sister made fun of it in front of everyone, making everyone laugh at me. I was tired, i wasn’t feeling well and wanted to just go home. I told her that i was sorry about misspronouncing a word in one of the 5 languages i speak while she only speaks English and can’t ever get a Korean name right. My step mom was FURIOUS and oh god if there was trouble when i got home. Everyone is mad at me for making my step sis seem uneducated in public.. Am i the a**hole?

Edit to add: She has no speech impediment, i gave her the option of going by my initial and her mom, the woman that almost let me die when i was 15 gets my name right.

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

MaIngallsisaracist −  NTA. You didn’t make her seem uneducated. You revealed that she’s being r**ist by refusing to pronounce your name correctly.

devlin94 −  NTA. Why hasn’t your dad sat her down and phonetically taught her how to say your name? She either has a speech impediment (which would make you an AH) or it’s intentional.

[Reddit User] −  Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it I’d say. Have you spoken to your parents about how she treats you/says your name wrong all the time?

Boga11 −  NTA Good for you standing up for yourself. Sounds like more than a little closet racism going on here. Are you comfortable and safe where you are? Not to be an alarmist, but with the rise in violence towards folks of east asian persuasion here in the US, make sure you are safe, with people you trust and who care about you. sorry you are having to deal with this, Americans can be quite anti-intellectual sometimes, this coming from a lifelong US citizen.

HiddenNotLost666 −  NTA but your step sister and step mom sure are. I don’t see your step mom getting FURIOUS about her making fun of your mispronunciation that resulted in everyone laughing at you, but you call her out for purposely mispronouncing your name, and she IS mispronouncing it on purpose after SEVEN YEARS of being your step sister. You definitely weren’t in the wrong here, in any shape or form OP.

FragrantLynx −  NTA. The only thing making her seem uneducated is her lack of education. And that ain’t your fault

[Reddit User] −  NTA. At all. After 7 years, she’s purposely not pronouncing your name correctly. Mispronounce hers constantly and she’ll get it right.

sherbertdab_ −  NTA. She is uneducated? She’s also r**ist as hell and a bully by the sounds of it, likely due to her mother never giving her any sense of manners or common decency. Hopefully your father will stick up for you, but either way I suggest you ignore them.

shrxwin −  NTA, and how soon before you can teach the toddler to say your name so she can be the one shaming the rude step sister?

[Reddit User] −  NTA. Your name is special and has meaning. It’s rude not to learn to pronounce it. Assuming the name is Jisoo, it’s not even difficult.

Do you think the user was justified in calling out her step-sister for repeatedly mispronouncing her name, or was it a harsh move? How would you handle a situation like this, especially when cultural differences are involved? Share your thoughts below!